CLE 10, MIN 0: Who Needs Chris Gimenez?

Welp, everybody’s been saying Mitch Garver isn’t playing enough, be careful what you wish for. Garver made his first appearance on the mound tonight in the ninth inning of a 10-0 game. And you know what? He was the only Twins pitcher who didn’t surrender a run. Chris Gimenez, eat your heart out.

Kyle Gibson had a rare rough night and Matt Belisle had his usual rough night. Gibson surrendered seven hits and Cleveland scored six runs, four earned over his five innings. Belisle gave up four more runs over his two innings.

That puts Belisle up to 20 earned runs in 19 ⅔ innings with the Twins this season. Just for reference, that’s the same number of earned runs Taylor Rogers has allowed in 44 ⅔ innings this season.

Belisle also needed a season-high 48 pitches to get through those two innings. The Twins will need to make a move tomorrow when they activate Matt Magill from paternity leave ...

Postgame With Garver

Bullpen UsageHere’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days:AL Central StandingsCLE 62-49MIN 52-59 (-10)DET 47-65 (-15.5)CHW 41-70 (-21)KC 34-77 (-28)

Also, Bauer simply looks dominant and the Indian hitters are good when they need to be. I don't know if Cleveland's going to be able to take down Houston in the playoffs (if that's how the seeding plays out), but they should be able to give him a difficult time. Even with the guys we traded away, Cleveland's easily better.

At least we can all agree now that Matt Belisle needs to be released. Garver did better.

Speaking of Garver (and other position players that want to pitch an inning in a blowout), I would recommend the two-seamer grip to make those slow 60 mph floaters drift a bit more. The slow timing and movement can be almost like a knuckler.

Such impatience with our minor leaguers and beyond belief patience with Belisle.What is going on?Explain these new metrics to an old guy who has the perception that giving up a run an inning is not good.What am I missing?Hey Falvey and Levine - you owe us an explanation!

Turned it on and the Twins were down 2-0 in the 1st. The next inning, Rosario struck out on a pitch over his head, and I pretty much thought "yeah, these guys aren't coming back". This game didn't look appealing from a Twins fan perspective from the get-go.

The FO is just grinding the fans down with this Belisle stuff. Just keep rolling him out there until we finally don't care enough to complain.

Seriously, is this any way to run a ball team? It's not consequential in a 10-0 game, but do they not have a database where everyone is asked this when they are added to the 25-man? And then in every game there is not a depth chart of who is physically available to pitch that day, that goes all the way down the line to emergency pitcher use?

"Would you mind pitching next?" Reasonable question. Or, "we're in a tough spot, I need you to pitch," if that's more your style. But, "have you ever pitched?" Not a fan of how this played out.

Whether that's on the FO or the field staff, I want my dugout prepared for every eventuality. This shows lack of preparation; what else is falling between the cracks?

Seriously, is this any way to run a ball team? It's not consequential in a 10-0 game, but do they not have a database where everyone is asked this when they are added to the 25-man?

I hear Jack Goin may have taken the database with him.

And due to the record payroll, the Pohlads suspended the raffle that was to accompany the emergency pitcher questionnaire, so perhaps employee participation was lower. First prize was supposed to be a mountain bike this year!

Why didn't Drake pitch?My brother who is also a Big Twins fan said to me last week that Molitor doesn't Manage to win the game, while the cleveland manager was.He's right, look at the line-up and the number of time weak relievers have come into games that are still on the line.NO winning team would manage like this!Thus, we are not a winning team!

Al I know is that August/Sep this year could have still been fun and has been made totally irrelevant by the FO. Grapefruit games in March are more interesting than these last two months will be. On to football and who cares whether the Twins beat the Indians in the rest of this series with the lineups they will send out there.

Also, what is one good reason why Buxton should not be called up immediately and told not to crash into walls or take chances on the bases. Just work on his hitting against actual Major League pitching. If he is too fragile to risk that he should be released.

Also, what is one good reason why Buxton should not be called up immediately and told not to crash into walls or take chances on the bases. Just work on his hitting against actual Major League pitching. If he is too fragile to risk that he should be released.

1.) He is on the disabled list with a bad wrist. It would be detrimental to his healing process to play baseball games.
2.) Byron Buxton’s speed is his greatest attribute. Asking him not to take chances on the bases is like asking J.D. Martinez not to swing for the fences. Why would you do it?
3.) Major league games attract tons of media attention and fans. If a guy is working on something and struggling, you don’t want him to have all of that media attention.
4.) Minor league games don’t matter as much – it’s okay to tell a guy not to swing at anything except curve balls or to take a few pitches to work on hitting with two strikes. It’s hard to do that in the MLB when games matter and you can’t experiment as much.
5.) Minor league teams have hitting instructors attached who can work one-on-one with a specific hitter. Those are not as prevalent at the MLB level, where guys are supposed to know what they’re doing already.